Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Book Review Varieties of Gifts

If you are a pastor, or a pastor in training, or are a
voyeur and interested in how pastors think, feel, and act from Monday through
Saturday then Varieties of Gifts:
Multiplicity and the Well-Lived Pastoral Life (Rowan and Littlefield, 2016)
is for you. Varieties of Gifts will
certainly help you ponder the various identities and roles that pastors exhibit
in their life. I know I did. Most of the books that I review are quick reads, but not this one. I kept stopping over and over again pondering the numerous vignettes and stories which Dr.
Lindner includes. These stories were not just filler to keep the
narrative moving forward, but are essential components for the book and which
made me think of my own multiple identities that I carry around with me.

The major premise of this book is that pastors have, like
every human being, multiple roles or identities which we exhibit. For example, when
folks first meet me and when I tell them that I am an ordained minister they
probably put me into one of their mental categories or boxes called “pastor.” They most
likely have their own ideas or pre-conceived notions or even prejudices of what
I do as a pastor, as in, “He probably just works on Sunday.” Of course we know
that is a bunch of baloney, yet that is what many people think.

Yet when digging deeper they will learn that I am also a
husband, father, friend, son, author, art lover, gardener, lover of poetry, and
so forth. In other words when someone gets to know me they realize I am much
more than just an ordained minister and that I have a wide variety of interests
and things that I do which I find life-giving.

Lindner’s book is woven around numerous pastoral interviews
which she conducted over a period of time. These stories were well told and are
food for thought for the reader to return to again and again. The pastors whom
she interviewed are also very diverse: men and women, pastors from big city
congregations and those who minister in the countryside. She spoke with
ministers who have been in parish life for a long time and those for a short
time. The wide range of interviews and stories provides the posts or hangers, on
which Lindner weaves her main thesis.

While reading I kept thinking of my own
multiplicity of identities or roles and how these intersect or sometimes don’t.
I kept thinking of older pastors whose primary identity has been that or a
priest or pastor, always subjugating their other loves or interests to that of
full time parish life. Many of these ministers are deeply conflicted and often
angry, they never allowed their other multiple lives to come to the surface and
have a voice. Their sole role or identity is that of minister, priest, or pastor, everything else falls by the wayside.

Yet coming to terms that we lead multiple lives is not easy. I
admit that it took me quite a while to come to a deep understanding that at the
core of who I am is not merely just a pastor but all of my identities wrapped
into one and that all of my roles or identities or gifts as Lindner suggests
are all interconnected and foster and encourage my other roles and identities.
If I am going to maintain a healthy balance then I need to keep these roles
alive and well, otherwise I’ll fall into the trap of having a singular
identity.

If you want to give one book to your parish priest or
pastor, I encourage you to get a copy of Varieties
of Gifts for them, they’ll love it.

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